Here's the final part of the trip to Glencoe. I hope you like it.

The next week 'real life' will be kind of crazy, I have two major deadlines at work and will probably be working into the wee hours of the night and won't have much time to write. Please don't be upset if I don't update before next weekend. I'll do my best to update sooner, but I seriously doubt if I'll be able to.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Covert Affairs.


-Chapter 9: Glencoe part 3-

"Augs, you're amazing!" Alex exclaimed as he firmly squeezed his brother's shoulder. It was Sunday morning, they were sitting in Alex' office and Auggie had spent the past hour and half fixing the bug in his new software. It all seemed to be working flawlessly and Auggie was very happy with himself. It hadn't been very hard to fix when he finally found the problem, a few lines of code needed to be re-written, it was just sloppy work in his opinion. He'd also sent an email to the software company, letting them know about the problem and how to fix it. Alex had watched Auggie work and was amazed about how his brother was able to navigate a computer without seeing.

"I know I am," he replied with a self-satisfied smirk. "I guess we're done here, or do you have any other computer issues you need me to look at while we're at it?"

"Well, the computer at the front desk has been acting weird for a couple of weeks. The receptionist has to restart it several times a day."

"I'll check it out, but you definitely owe me lunch. Is it turned on and connected to the office network so I can access it from my laptop?"

"I'll go turn it on, hang on for a second." Auggie heard his brother's footsteps going down the hall to the reception area and returning a few minutes later. "It's on and connected." Auggie quickly accessed the computer through a remote desktop application on his laptop and he found the problems pretty fast. After about half an hour he'd finished removing some viruses and spyware.

"Alex, you need to tell your receptionist to be more careful about opening email attachments and downloading stuff from the Internet. I've just removed several viruses and a couple of spyware programs. I've installed a firewall and some updated virus protection software that should do the trick."

"Thanks! I'll tell her first thing on Tuesday. She's great with the patients and she does a good job, but she's a bit of an airhead sometimes." Alex chuckled.

"So, how 'bout that lunch?" Auggie asked as he started powering down his laptop and putting everything back into his messenger bag.

"Sure, it's the least I can do. Ready to get going?"

"Yep!" Auggie got to his feet, slung his messenger bag across his body and unfolded his cane before heading in the direction of the door. He followed the sound of his brother's footsteps to the waiting room.

"Just a sec Aug, I've gotta shut down the front desk computer before we leave." Alex quickly made his way into he reception area and a couple of minutes later he re-joined Auggie. He brushed his right hand against the back of Auggie's left and soon he was guiding Auggie to his car. Auggie was surprised about how quickly Alex had picked up basic sighted guide technique.


When Alex dropped Auggie off at their parents house after lunch Auggie felt more at peace than he had in a long time. He'd actually enjoyed spending the morning helping his older brother and there had only been a couple of awkward moments during lunch, but they'd both been able to laugh about them afterwards. For the first time since being blinded he felt that his brother saw him as a capable person, not a helpless blind guy. It felt good. He headed upstairs to drop off his messenger bag in his room and went back downstairs to find Annie and his parents. He found them in the backyard.

"Hey guys! What's up?" he called out as he crossed the lawn to where they were sitting in the gazebo.

"Hi Augs! Did you manage to sort out Alex' computer problems?" Annie asked, although Auggie's body language told her that the morning with his brother had been a good one. "Chair about three feet ahead at your two o'clock."

"Yep! Apparently I'm amazing!" he replied with a smile as his cane hit the chair. He quickly assessed the chair and sat down while folding his cane. "What have you been up to while I was gone?"

"Oh, I've learned an awful lot about you. Jill showed me your High School yearbooks and told me all kinds of stories about you growing up."

"Great… Thanks a lot Mom." Auggie did his best to shoot his mother a dirty look, but he really wasn't that upset. "Well Walker, I guess you owe me some embarrassing stories from your childhood, and they'd better be good. After all, you don't have to worry about me laughing at embarrassing pictures of you."


That evening Auggie went with his brothers and father to a Cubs game at Wrigley field. It was an Anderson family tradition that the men enjoyed a baseball game the Sunday before Labor Day and something that Auggie had always enjoyed before loosing his sight. Between an assistive listening device and his brothers and father relaying everything that happened on the field Auggie had a great time. The fact that the tension between him and his older brothers seemed to be subsiding made it even more enjoyable.

Annie spent the evening with Susannah and Mandy at John and Mandy's house and she enjoyed getting to know Auggie's sisters in-law. She caught herself hoping to be part of the Anderson family sometime in the future. Her feelings for Auggie was only growing stronger after getting to know his family and learning more about his past.

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Late the same evening Annie was about to turn in for the night when Auggie knocked on the guest room door. "Annie, are you decent? Can I come in?"

"Augs, it's not like you can see if I'm decent or not." Annie teased as she opened the door and let him in.

"Oh har, very funny Miss Walker. I can still 'see', " he said while wiggling his fingers in her direction with a teasing grin on his face. "Did you enjoy your evening? I hope it wasn't too awkward." He felt bad for pretty much abandoning Annie the whole day, after all he'd invited her to come to Glencoe. First he'd spent the morning with Alex and had lunch with him while Annie was stuck with his parents and then he'd gone to the game in the afternoon and after the game he'd gone to a bar with his brothers. He'd enjoyed himself so much that he didn't realize how late it was until they left the bar.

"It was good. I really like Susannah and Mandy, we're about the same age and we actually have stuff to talk about." She sounded like she meant it. Auggie was relieved and didn't feel as bad when he said good night to Annie and headed to bed.


"How do you want to do this Aug?" Annie whispered. The Labor Day cookout was well underway and Auggie's mother and sister's in-law were setting up a big buffet and his father was in charge of the barbeque.

"I'll follow you down the buffet, you tell me what the choices are and I tell you what to put on my plate, ok?"

They did as Auggie suggested and ten minutes later they were seated at a round table on the deck. John, Mandy, Steven and Kate soon joined them. Annie noticed that they all announced their arrival and where they were sitting in relation to Auggie. Soon conversation was flowing lightly across the table. They were all curious about Annie and Auggie's life in DC.

"I'm going to get another beer. Does anybody need anything?" Steven asked as he rose from his chair about half an hour into the meal.

"Will you grab me a beer too Steve?" Auggie asked.

A few minutes later Steven returned carrying two bottles of beer.

"Here you go Auggie," he said as he brushed one of the bottles against the back of Auggie's right hand. "Thanks Steven," Auggie said as he grabbed the bottle with a smile. All of his brothers seemed to have paid attention to his little 'lecture' on Saturday and it had paid off. Annie had been right about grabbing the bull by the horns.


Tuesday night they were back in DC. They'd gone to the cafe down the block for dinner and now they were both sitting on the couch watching the news. When the news ended Auggie turned towards Annie.

"Thank you," was all he said. His voice was thick with emotion, but the tone was warm and sincere.

"For what?" Annie was confused. What was Auggie thanking her for and why was he so emotional?

"For this weekend, for opening my eyes, so to speak, for getting me to do something I should have done years ago, for helping me get reacquainted with my brothers and my parents. For helping me with making our relationship 'normal' again and getting them to realize I'm still me. I mean it Annie. If it weren't for you it would probably never have happened. You have no idea how thankful I am. I'm not sure I can ever repay you for what you have done for me."

Annie was blown away; she'd never realized how much it meant to Auggie. Not knowing how to respond she simply leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "That's what friends are for," she said quietly as she pulled away.

It was at that moment Auggie realized he loved Annie. He hadn't felt this deeply for any woman since Natasha. Without thinking Auggie pulled her back towards him and kissed her gently on the lips.